Liberation of the Peon by Diego Rivera Essay Example

the revolutionary freedom and tragic freedom. By use of unmistakable allusion which signifies a scene where the Christian are seen to be lamenting because of one of them who was suffering (Serrano 56).

Diego through his art in this mural he only expressed a tragic freedom to be only attained when the person dies. Death here is the one which bring the tragic freedom because the person is no longer going to incur more pain and suffering yet there was no one who could assist. The peasant enjoyed his freedom when he was finally released from the life he was living in as of exploitation and drudgery. All this art has the theme of religious context. The mural is depicting the same concept which was applicable during the time of deposition of the Christ.

The peon in the art has a pose which constructs it as a martyr and what it has really done is that it has simplified the figures here. The figures which are in this art are signifying the holy beings or angels who were pertinent to Mexico. Also the straw hats were used to emphasize halos that were there during the time of the deposition of the Christ. In the artwork too there were horses which were taken from the view of renaissance and the artist had arranged them carefully in a manner in which the concept could be clearly seen. The meaning of the liberation of the Peon was more intensified by the murals point of view. The idea of crucified Christ whose body was fully covered in wounds that marked his body was the one which was depicted in this art.

What we mainly earn from this artwork is that the figures which were shown were not emphasizing on the religious martyrs but they were really emphasizing on the revolutionary ones (Bacon 85).

Before the revolution of the Mexicans, a hacienda which was mainly a vast estate which was doing well in agriculture was owned by wealthy foreigners. These wealthy Mexicans are the ones which dominated the country’s political and social landscape. Liberation in the peon is full of emotion and history. The naked slave from the art is being cut to be free from the physical enslavement as well as political tyranny by the liberating soldiers. All the movements in the artworks are leading to the main focus where the knife is used to cut the binding ropes. The main theme of this art is a political protest which is from the laborers against being exploited. It symbolizes that this is the end of inhumanity towards the farm laborers from the land owners and it was a new beginning which showed a sense of political rights, freedom, education, and land ownership of the farm workers who were oppressed for many years.

In the art work the burning buildings were signifying also the end of oppression from those people who were wealthy and they were the owners of the land during that era. All the revolutionists were shown to be clearly involved as they surrounded the peon who had been beaten and left to die. Each one of them was seen to be involved in a specific activity. There is the one who is trying the cover the peon’s body which was lying down while naked; the other

one was cutting the bonds which were holding him while the last one was holding his body. In conclusion what this art depicts is the theme of politics and it is so evident and clears (Werner 75-88).

Work cited

• Bacon, Susan M. “Diego Rivera: Art & Revolution.” Hispania 85.1 (2002): 109. Web.
• Serrano, Alberto Híjar. “The Latin American Left and the Contribution of Diego Rivera to National Liberation.” Third Text 19.6 (2005): 637–646. Web.
• Werner, Alfred. “Diego Rivera and His Mexico.” The Antioch Review 20.1 (1960): 88. Web.